Montenegro opposition leaders arrested after violent protest of religion law

Montenegro’s opposition leaders were arrested Friday after a dramatic night in parliament when their deputies violently protested the passing of a controversial law on religious freedom.

The law has ignited tensions in recent weeks between the government and the pro-Serb opposition which is close to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), Montenegro’s main religious body.

The Church is particularly incensed over a clause requiring religious communities to prove ownership of properties from before 1918, when Montenegro lost its independence, in order to keep them.

During the chaotic parliamentary debate that started on Thursday and stretched far into the night, opposition MPs from the Democratic Front threatened to take up arms if the law was passed.

After amendments they proposed were rejected, opposition members hurled a firecracker in the parliament hall, vandalised the building, threw plastic bottles and tried to physically attack other politicians, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

A total of 22 people including 17 MPs were initially detained over the incidents, police said in a statement early Friday.

Opposition leaders Milan Knezevic, Andrija Mandic and another MP were then arrested and accused of “assaulting an official in the performance of his duties and preventing a policeman from carrying out his duties”, police said.

The rest were released after questioning Friday morning.

- ‘Difficult Christmas’ -

The Serbian Orthodox Church, which runs hundreds of monasteries on tracts of valuable land throughout the tiny country, has accused the government of using the law to appropriate church heritage and purloin its assets.

The ruling party denies this, saying it only wants to sort out ownership rights.

Church authorities on Friday blamed the government for the unrest which it said caused “unimaginable divisions and hatred”.

The bishop who runs the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, Amfilohije Radovic, had earlier asked the prime minister to hold off on voting on the law until after Orthodox Christmas which falls on January 7.

“Orthodox believers are now expecting one of the hardest Christmas holidays in Montenegro’s recent history,” the church said in a statement Friday.